Brightlings are a group of toys introduced by Leapfrog for infants 6 months+. The Brightlings Matchers are one of the subgroups of the Brightlings toys, the other subgroups include Brightlings Builders, Brightlings Stackers, and Brightlings Dancers. All of the Brightlings are learning toys and each group has a specific targetted development area. The Brightlings Matchers are intended to aid in the development of motor skills and creativity; they also aid in teaching colors, shapes, cause-and-effect and sorting.

Brightlings Matchers come three to a box, as with the other Brightlings toys. Although the shapes are slightly irregular one represents an oval, one a triangle and one a square, the irregularity at the tops and bottoms of each block enable them to stack together in to a column. Each shape comes apart in to two pieces and each half can match up with other halves to make interesting combinations; however, when your child makes the correct combination of halves he will be rewarded with a *ting* sound from the blue square, a swirling motion from the red oval’s clear window, and a flashing light from within the yellow triangle.

Overall Brightlings Builders are a good toy for an infant especially regarding the developmental aspects of the toy. The packaging, although irrelevant as the age range for this toy is so young, was easy to open and there were no internal ties or twisty ties within the packaging to make them difficult to get out of the packaging. The only “assembly” with the Brightlings Builders is pulling a clear plastic tab from two of the blocks which are clearly marked with “pull me,” in order for the internal mechanisms in those two blocks to connect and allow flashing or spinning (depending on which block) to take place when the correct halves are placed together. The halves of each block are easily pulled apart and put back together and should pose little to no frustration to a young child during play. When all of the halves are connected forming three complete blocks the individual blocks will also stack on top of each other, although the particular shape and “waviness” of the blocks make it difficult to keep the blocks stacked and may cause a little frustration during play. With the exception of the lazy shape of the blocks themselves causing stacking issues I found nothing else to complain about with this particular toy. I like the colors, the shapes and the stimulation they provide and would recommend them, not only as a learning toy for your own child but as a gift for someone elses.